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Post by mvneufeld on Nov 9, 2020 21:02:33 GMT
The only other thing I can think of is maybe you have a ground loop. The easiest way to do fix a ground loop is to power everything through a single AC socket.
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Post by mvneufeld on Nov 9, 2020 17:31:19 GMT
The hum from your 6P5Gs is caused by RF interference. It's pretty common with the twins like 6J5s, 6P5s, and 6C5s. 6F8Gs can hum, too. To fix it you need to build a Faraday cage. You can use copper mesh or try chicken wire. I started with copper mesh cages, but discovered that chicken wire worked well enough while allowing me to gaze fondly at my tubes. ;-) Here's a pic of my chicken wire cage: i.postimg.cc/3Nsb7jg5/IMG-3432.jpgNote the ground running into the standoff as you mentioned. If you want to try copper mesh, it's cheap on Amazon - search for 99.9% Pure Copper Wire 40 Mesh
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 23, 2017 20:30:15 GMT
This is definitely not the time of year to visit the Solstice thread. Please drop in here anytime, and bring your friends. I'm happy to see this Horizon thread flourishing!
Ronzo, my wife doesn't like the headphones because she says they press her hair down around her ears... Not a problem for me, although they sometimes tickle the hair growing IN my ears.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 21, 2017 18:33:20 GMT
Big mistake! You absolutely have to wait for HER to come to YOU. The more I acted like this was something she could never understand or appreciate, the more intrigued my wife was. It took two months.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 21, 2017 16:41:00 GMT
I remember fondly that night when my NOS RCA 12SX7 had warmed up and biased itself to perfection in the Solstice, slipped the phones over my wife's ever-so-sensitive ears. The sweet sonic details flowed lavishly like a river of vintage electrons across the 12SX7's perfectly formed plates and kissed Mrs Lobal's lobes with the most exquisite rendering of Bach's Cello Suite No.1 she'd ever heard - her face glowed in bliss, basking in the luxuriant incandescence of pristine NOS 12SX7 cathodes. As she took the phones off, her eyes as large as 12SN7 micas, she said she'd married the smartest, most aurally astute man in the world. I nodded vacantly and asked for the phones back so I could get back to scrutinizing Frans' Exclusive 12SN7 Sweep Tones Anthology - the 1.25Khz to 2.1Khz Utrecht Extended Edition. Very nice how you managed to rub the 12*N7 in just a few more times - "her eyes as large as 12SN7 micas" is poetic, but cruel nonetheless. And of course the way your Solstice "biased itself to perfection", reminding me that I must hunch in the semi-dark, squinting through my reading glasses, as I try to line up my tiny screwdriver with the tiny, tiny slot in the tiny bias screw. You, sir, are not so civil as you appear!
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 21, 2017 4:52:57 GMT
When I first started listening to 6SN7s I thought the sizzling and popping was just part of the experience, and I wasn't sure I liked it. But after a few days the tubes settled down and now they very quiet - once I adjust the bias.
Lobalwarming, every time you mention 12SN7 tubes I get just a little jealous of you and your Solstice. I think you do it on purpose...
Man, I don't know exactly what happened but in the last day or so everything has come together, and my music sounds sooo good. It's like all the new equipment - headphones, DAC, tubes - finished burning and just fell together in beautiful harmonious synergy. It was so good this evening I finally let my wife listen. Played some Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny for her and she was duly impressed.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 20, 2017 22:36:32 GMT
Waiting for someone to tell me how wrong I am - you all are so polite! What kind of forum is this?
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 20, 2017 19:09:32 GMT
If anyone is wondering why I bought an LPS for the DAC and not for the Horizon (besides cost), after sniffing around the internets I determined that a regulated linear power supply would isolate the USB connection to the DAC, which would be one of my main sources of potential noise. (Galvanical isolation? But maybe that's only important if the DAC would be getting power from the USB? Not sure...) This was pretty much a wild guess because when it comes to electronics I'm am ignoramus groping in the dark. Well, not completely in the dark, for you are my trusty guides. I'll let you all know if it makes any difference next month, when the thing arrives from Shenzhen.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 19, 2017 23:46:49 GMT
Yeah, they are brutal, but hey, it was the Sonys and a Bravo headphone amp that got me started down this path.
I just popped out my RCA 6SN7GT grey glass and rolled in an EH 6H30Pi and things sound less veiled. Maybe that's the answer - judicious tube rolling to ease the transition.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 19, 2017 22:49:58 GMT
In comparison to my previous headphones. Definitely, some of it is that I'd been listening to the Horizon with Sony MDR-V6s for a month, and they were so bright (and fatiguing). The sound signature of the HD650s is much different.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 19, 2017 22:28:32 GMT
Frans, just so you know, that wimpy little LPS I ordered is for the DAC, not the Horizon! I should have made that clearer.
I'd love to have an LPS for the Horizon. Can't afford it...
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 19, 2017 20:47:10 GMT
Thanks for the reply - Basically I'm pretty happy with this SMSL Sanskrit - I don't have any issues with the USB input and the sound quality seems fine. (The mids in my music seem a bit muddy, but I'm breaking in some new HD650s... )
There is one other thing I was thinking of getting myself for Christmas - a Breeze Audio 15W Linear Power Supply for $50. I've read that getting an LPS is a good idea - would you recommend it? What benefits would it bring?
(Thanks to Lobalwarming for advising on this, too)
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 19, 2017 16:39:45 GMT
Hello Solderdue, if you're out there... You commented on the SMSL Sanskrit 6th Anniversary recently. SMSL has a better DAC - the SMSL M8A 2nd - that I'm thinking about getting. It has a better DAC chip than my Sanskrit, and also better USB implementation. Any opinions on the ESS9028Q2M DAC chipset? Thanks!
Luckbad - you're quite right that an amp with a 6SN7 socket would be far less versatile. It was just a thought - it would be nice not to have the adapter (although Jeremy makes a fine adapter). And you're right that there are other good tube types. I just got a Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88 that I really like, my EH 6H30Pi is also a very good tube, and I still listen to 12AU7s.
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 14, 2017 1:18:07 GMT
Hear hear! That sounds like a great idea for an amp.
The 12AU7 was definitely my gateway drug -- I had a Bravo for about a month before I knew I needed something stronger. The first time I listened to a TS 6SN7GT I knew I'd gone to another level - like going from 2D to 3D. That said, I still listen to 12Au7s from time to time -- they work better for me than 6SN7s for a lot of 70s music (Little Feat, anyone?).
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Post by mvneufeld on Dec 13, 2017 22:01:48 GMT
Hi Jim - back to the public forum.
Auto-bias is the one thing I wish I had, although I kind of enjoy the tinkering. (I'd like it better if the damned adjustment screws were a little bigger or my eyes were a little better.) But my hope is to eventually settle on half a dozen tubes I really like and sell off the rest, so I won't be rolling tubes that often. I got the Horizon because I thought it would be the best choice to for the 300ohm HD650s I'd already ordered, but I gather the HD650s work fine with the Sunset and Solstice. Doesn't matter - I'm very happy.
I didn't realize that the Schiit tube amps use negative feedback that lessens the tube effect. Have you had the chance to hear a Bottlehead Crack? Maybe not on Vancouver Island... I haven't. One thing I wonder about the Crack, and the G1217 amps, is why they're designed around 12AU7 tubes. Aren't there much better tubes to start with?
I have a number of 12AU7s and 6SN7s as well as one 6CG7 and the 6H30Pi, and I'm wondering what other tube types might be good to check out after the holidays. I have an Amperex 6DJ8/ECC88 coming in a few days. I also just ordered a couple of Novosibirsk 6N6P tubes ($5 each - they were sold out of the $15 Fotons). Do you have any experience with/opinions on these tubes?
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